Bolero – The Best of Ravel
This album of two CD’s is packed full of some of the most amazing and delightful of Maurice Ravel’s music. Many of you have heard admire Ravel’s “Bolero”; but there’s so much more to the French composer’s music.
“La Valse” opens with faint sounds, as though hidden behind some clouds. Later this Waltz music develops and erupts as though it is heard in a major Viennese ballroom.
In “Rhapsodie Espagnole” we get the theme of Spanish music; and one hears the influence of jazz in the Violin Sonata and in the Concerto for piano, left hand. There are other wonderful orchestral selections as well.
Here is the list of selections:
Ravel:
- Boléro
Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
- Jeux d’eau
Martha Argerich (piano)
- Alborada del gracioso (orchestral version)
London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
- Ma Mère l’Oye: excerpts
Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev (pianos)
- Daphnis et Chloé – Suite No. 2
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
- Tzigane
Augustin Dumay (violin), Maria Joao Pires (piano)
- Piano Concerto in G major: Adagio assai
Martha Argerich (piano)
London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
- Le Tombeau de Couperin: Toccata
Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano)
- La Valse
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
- Gaspard de la nuit: Ondine
Ivo Pogorelich (piano)
- Pavane pour une infante défunte
Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
- Rapsodie Espagnole
Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
- Berceuse sur le nom de Fauré
Augustin Dumay (violin), Maria Joao Pires (piano)
- Introduction & Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet
Osian Ellis (harp)
Melos Ensemble
- Violin Sonata in G major: 2. Blues
Shlomo Mintz (violin), Yefim Bronfman (piano)
- Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)
Claudio Abbado
Here is “Alborada del Gracioso” by Maurice Ravel
And now here’s Janine Jansen, violin, with Itamar Golan, piano in Ravel’s “Blues”
Tags: Maurice Ravel, Bolero, La Valse, Alborada del Gracioso